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Bialar Crais
Captain Bialar Crais (played by Lani Tupu) was born in a Sebacean farming community, but while still a boy, he and his younger brother Tauvo were taken from their family and conscripted into the Peacekeeper military. As they were hauled away, Crais' father charged him to look after his younger brother. It was a burden Crais would always remember, one that would later come back to haunt him. Overview Character History Pre-Show Unlike most Peacekeepers, Bialar and his brother Tauvo were conscripted into Peacekeeper service at extremely young age. Before being taken from his father Bialar swore to watch over and protect his brother, but with training and assignments they were soon separated. Over the years Bialar caught the eye of his superiors, and quickly rose through the ranks and gained the rank of captain and the command of a Command Carrier, a position rarely achieved by any Peacekeeper not born on a carrier. Ordering the transfer of Icarion Company, in which his brother was now a lieutenant, Bialar and Tauvo were finally reunited. Crais used his command to forward his own pet projects, including the genetic engineering of Leviathans, blending their DNA with Peacekeeper technology to produce an hybird gunship. Capturing the Leviathan Moya, Crais had the uncooperative Pilot killed and replaced her with a younger Pilot he had covertly drafted. Soon afterwards, Velorek, the Pilot/Leviathan expert in charge of the gunship project, had begun an affair with a young officer named Aeryn Sun to whom he told his plans to sabotage Crais' experiments. However, duty came first and Aeryn wanted nothing more than to return to Prowler duty. In exchange for a transfer back to Icarion Company's Pleisar Regiment, Aeryn betrayed Velorek to Crais, who executed him for treason. Season One Two cycles later while escorting three additional Leviathan prison ships to the lifers colony of Tarran Ra, Moya breaks formation after the prisoners gain control of the ship. Icarion Company is dispatched to subdue the Leviathan, but during the conflict a rift in space opens and the Farscape-1 Module, piloted by John Crichton, emerges. The Module collides with Tauvo's Prowler, sending him spinning out of control and crashing into a nearby asteroid, killing him on impact. Before it can be captured, the Farscape-1 Module is brought on board Moya with its docking web. Soon afterwards the prisoners manage to release the Leviathan's control collar, and go into Starburst, pulling Aeryn's Prowler along with them. When Crais learns of the accident, he believes that Crichton intentionally rammed Tauvo's Prowler and murdered his brother. He follows the Leviathan to a nearby commerce planet and captures Ka D'Argo, along with Aeryn Sun and John Crichton. He arrests Crichton for Tauvo's murder and deems Aeryn irreversibly contaminated for her prolonged contact with the human, essentially condemning her to death. But vengeance for his brother's death would be lost when the prisoners escape again, this time into the Uncharted Territories. Now obsessed, Crais pursues them deep into the Uncharted Territories, against the wishes of Peacekeeper High Command. Several months later, Crais rediscovers the legendary Command Carrier Zelbinion. Not wanting to take time away from his search, Crais leaves a group of technicians to salvage what they can from the ship then leaves, planning to return for them later. While he is gone, the techs are attacked by Sheyangs and all but one technician, Gilina Renaez, is killed. The Zelbinion would later be discovered by Moya and boarded by her crew. They aid Gilina in partially repairing the ship and driving off the Sheyangs. Gilina agrees to keep her encounter with Crichton and his companions a secret from Crais when he returns. Crais is later transported to a small planet by the entity known as Maldis where he is given his first opportunity to exact revenge upon Crichton. Despite John's efforts to reason with him, Crais falls under the Maldis' sway and becomes enraged to the point of madness. During the long struggle Crichton eventually gets the better of Crais and is about to take the killing blow when Maldis transports Crais back to his Command Carrier. Infuriated, Crais' sense of duty leaves him, even killing Lieutenant Teeg to ensure his hunt is not jeopardized and effectively going rogue. It is no longer about capturing a criminal, or avenging his brother. Crais wants blood. Months pass and despite thousands of wanted-beacons spread throughout the Uncharted Territories, Crichton and the crew of Moya continue to elude capture. It is then, with great satisifaction, that Crais learns of Crichton's capture at the hands of Scorpius. Travelling to Scorpius' Gammak Base to claim his prize, he aids Scorpius in interrogating Crichton in the Aurora Chair since Scorpius refuses to hand Crichton over before he examines him. The interrogation ends abruptly when they discover a memory that shows Crichton giving Crais information on wormholes, exactly what Scorpius is hoping to find. The memory is fake, created by Gilina, who had been transferred to the Gammak Base. Scorpius however, believing the chair to be foolproof, uses the Aurora Chair on Crais, but instead of the wormhole information, he finds Crais' memory of Teeg's murder. Realizing that the chair has indeed been fooled, he stops the interrogation. Before Crais is let out of the chair, however, he is discovered by Aeryn Sun. He orders her to release him, but she refuses. When he vows to hunt her down and kill her as he had vowed to do to Crichton, she turns the chair to full power and leaves him to suffer and die. Crais survives, but is a broken man. His quest to find Crichton has become Scorpius', and the half-breed soon takes control of Crais' Command Carrier as well. With Moya and the new-born Talyn cornered in the asteroid field surrounding the Gammak Base, Crais and Scorpius are approached by the deposed despot Dominar Rygel XVI advocating amnesty in exchange for the the other fugitives. Realizing that he will soon have to face the consequences of his decisions for the past cycle, Crais convinces Rygel that Scorpius will kill them both if they do not leave immediately. He will help the crew of Moya escape if they grant him asylum from the Peacekeepers. Rygel agrees. Escaping back to Moya, the crew finally come face to face with the man who has hunted them for close to a cycle. Despite their lust for revenge, the crew instead lock him in one of Moya's cells, where he is now their prisoner. Crais has also come to terms with his brother's death, that his thirst for revenge against Crichton was erroneous and for what it's worth, apologizes. Yet his imprisonment does not last long when he is let aboard Talyn, Moya's newborn offspring and the successful outcome of the project he'd started nearly three cycles before. Gaining Talyn's trust Crais takes the ship deeper into the asteroid field just before the crew destroys the Gammak Base. Season Two After Scorpius has left to chase Moya, Crais returns to assist Aeryn in the rescue of D'Argo and John; in doing so he makes Aeryn promise to help him gain full control over Talyn. Soon, Crais is offered Talyn's "Hand of Friendship," a neural transponder which gives him and Talyn a telepathic link, over Aeryn's objections. When Moya finally rejoins them, the crew once again imprisons Crais in hopes of protecting Talyn, but the Gunship turns his weapons on Moya and demands Crais' return. During another attack by Scorpius the two Leviathans break for an escape in different directions. For the next cycle, Crais and Talyn wander the Uncharted Territories. Crais acts as a guide, a mentor, and a father to the developing Leviathan gunship. Months pass without a word from Crais nor Talyn and the crew assumes the worst when they discover that Talyn fired upon a Halosian ship. Further investigation, however, shows that Crais and Talyn attacked the ship out of self defense, giving the crew some hope that Talyn in Crais' hands isn't as disastrous as they thought. When Crais came to Moya crew proposing to replace Talyn's weapons with non-lethal ones to be purchased from the Plokavians they are hopeful but suspicious. After the arrival of the Plokavian ship, however, Talyn detects them carrying a substance that is potentially harmful to Moya. He fires upon them, destroying the ship. At one point while under Scarran torture, Crichton would encounter a mental image of Crais. This image was cast in the role of an Australian beat cop wearing red high-heeled pumps. Crais and Talyn would again cross paths with Moya and her crew after Talyn hears a call of distress from his mother. While Talyn helps Moya recover from severe burns, Aeryn implores Crais to help them assault a Shadow Depository and save Crichton. Crais refuses to allow Talyn to participate as he is hoping to steer the Leviathan away from violence. Talyn decides to return, however, and during the rescue effort for Crichton at the Shadow Depository Crais and Talyn make a single strafing run to destroy it. Afterward, while Moya is attended to by a Diagnosan for her burns from the ignited drexan vapor Crais and Talyn hold watch for Scorpius. While they wait, Crais informs Aeryn that Talyn wants someone else to help guide him along with Crais. Together, they have selected Aeryn. While Aeryn is gratified at the offer, she leaves to pursue Crichton after he escapes Moya. Aeryn is killed before she can give an answer. Her death devastates Crais and he attends her funeral before returning to Talyn. In the distraction caused by Aeryn's death at the hands the neural chip in Crichton's brain, Scorpius slips past undetected. Having discovered Scorpius on the planet Crais and Talyn, hoping to avenge Aeryn, chase and destroy a Marauder believed to be carrying Scorpius. Going into Starburst to draw away the approaching Command Carrier, the crew of Moya once again loses contact with Crais. Season Three While trying to return to Moya, Talyn is assaulted by the Peacekeeper Retrieval Squad. Talyn manages to fight off part of the squad, but he is severely damaged by a Pantak-class Vigilante armed with an Immobilizer Pulse. Though they manage to escape, both Crais and Talyn are nearly killed and end up drifting for days before Moya arrives, having received a signal from her son. When he is revived on Moya, Crais reveals that the Retrieval Squad is led by none other than Aeryn's mother Xhalax Sun. After healing on Kanvia, Talyn and Crais separate from Moya with Aeryn, Rygel, Stark, and one of the twinned Crichtons, so as to draw the Retrieval Squad away from Moya and the rest. As their time passed on aboard Talyn, Crais reveals to Aeryn and the twinned Crichton the toll his bonding with Talyn has taken on him. Neural feedback caused severe blistering across his body and Talyn's instability had been slowly worsening. During this time, Crais also faces his growing attraction to Aeryn, Talyn's persistent behavioral problems, and the ever threatening Retrieval Squad. The ship also, at one point, gets swallowed by a budong. While healing Talyn on a jungle planet Crais, Aeryn, and Crichton finally come face to face with Xhalax and the Retrieval Squad. After killing the other members of the Squad they realize the only way to prevent further Retrieval Squads is to kill Xhalax. Aeryn is unable to bring herself to kill her mother so Crais takes it upon himself to play executioner or so it appears. Instead, he tells Xhalax to return to High Command and tell them that they were all dead in exchange for her life. Xhalax agrees, but this would not be the last time they encounter her. Later Crais and the crew of Talyn head to Dam-Ba-Da depot after they learn from the Ancient Jack that Furlow has sold wormhole technology to the Charrids, a race aligned with Scarrans. During the confrontation on the planet both Talyn and Crais are blinded by the solar flares and are unable to prevent the death of the twinned Crichton at the hands of the displacement engine used to destroy the Scarran Dreadnought. While on the planet Valldon, Stark discovers Xhalax alive. Though they believe that Crais has betrayed them, he eventually convinces them that his intentions are in everyone's best interests. Aeryn, distraught over Crichton's death, once again meets her mother, who is bent on killing her child. But Aeryn finally manages to redeem her mother, but Crais, fearing for Aeryn bursts in and kills Xhalax. With her dead, they travel back to Moya where Crais tells the surviving Crichton of his twin's death and learns the full danger of wormhole technology. Crais having seen the danger of wormholes agrees to help Crichton and the crew infiltrate Scorpius' Command Carrier and end his wormhole experiments. As they enact Crichton's plan, Talyn becomes more irrational, destroying an unarmed medical ship as well as firing on his own mother, Moya. Realizing that Talyn needs extensive repairs and modifications, Crais decides to shut down his companion and friend and bring him to the only people who he knows can help him, the Peacekeepers, with the plan to basically destroy his neural systems and reboot with a new personality. After several plans fail, Crais realizes that the only way to destroy the Command Carrier, while allowing everyone to escape, is by putting Talyn into Starburst while docked in the Command Carrier hanger, which means that both he and Talyn will perish. While Crichton provides a distraction, Crais manages to board Talyn and reactivate his higher functions. After convincing Talyn that their sacrifice will save many lives, including Moya's, Crais orders Talyn to starburst inside of the carrier's hangar. The resulting explosion is devastating, slowly consuming the Command Carrier from within. In this Crais comes full circle, gaining both revenge against Scorpius and finding the redemption he desired. Afterward Though dead, Crais appears again in various forms. Less than a cycle after his death, Crichton encounters an image of Crais inside of a mental video game-like device. This image is in the form of an ogre and is married to a princess who greatly resembles Aeryn. Crichton encounters Crais once more, this time in an Unrealized Reality. In this reality, Crichton is a Peacekeeper and Crais his commanding officer. After the Peacekeeper Crichton accomplishes his mission by inadvertently capturing Moya and killing her crew, Crais embraces him and congratulates him on a job well done. Personality Crais begins the series as a typical villain, chasing the show's hero because of a personal need for revenge. Backstory on Crais reveals that he had been forced to be a Peacekeeper and that his father had charged him with protecting his younger brother, a fact that made him slightly more sympathetic. His continued failure to catch Crichton, and the introduction of Scorpius late in the first year leads to a change in Crais. By this time he has realized that his pursuit of Crichton was to fulfill his personal desire rather than for his brother's memory. He chooses to leave the Peacekeepers and take Talyn, the product of his most successful project. Unexpectedly, Crais is a fairly positive influence on Talyn. He acts as a mentor, teacher, father, and friend to Talyn and tries to teach him peace and discipline. The bond between Crais and Talyn grows strong, stronger even than Talyn's relationship with Aeryn. In the two cycles following his defection from the Peacekeepers, Crais becomes a valuable ally to Moya's crew. With most of them, however, he does not ever reach the level of friendship. Crais often acts in the interests of Talyn and himself. When he performs an action that he deems necessary, he will go ahead and do it, with or without the consent or even knowledge of his companions. Though he fights beside him on several occasions, Crais doesn't really like Crichton. By the time of the death of Talyn's Crichton, however, he has gained respect for John. This likely plays a part in his decision to help Crichton end Scorpius' wormhole research. With Aeryn, Crais' respect eventually grows into something more. He admires many of her traits and grows to care about her deeply, likely to the point of love. His change leads to his decision with Talyn to make the ultimate sacrifice to stop Scorpius and save them all. Crais' respect for the Peacekeeper mandates is unclear; at times, he's the flagbearer for military tradition; at other times, he's a renegade. Anything that could be construed as a challenge to his authority terrifies him; he despises Scorpius for almost the same reason he despises Crichton. Like Inspector Javert, Crais simply wants the universe to operate by his rules. And only Crais knows what his rules are. Quotes *I will track you down and kill you, Officer Sun. On that, I give you my vow. *There is much in life that is unfair. We are all proof of that. *I understand you didn't mean to kill my brother. It was an accident. I realize that now, as I look back and try to understand it all. *I thought it was about my brother. It should've been about my brother. Somewhere along the way my priorities..decayed. I realized I'd became more concerned with my own image and career. *Officer Sun, if by some strange quirk you survive your current situation and we manage to encounter each other again, I hope that our relationship away from the Peacekeepers will be a much different one next time. *Talyn, you heard Scorpius. You are not his concern. Merely a tool he can use or barter away. This is how the Peacekeepers treat their own: you, me, Officer Sun. But we are alike now. Orphaned from all we ever knew. We have only one another to rely upon. You must believe me. Trust me. *All that I have cared for have gone. My parents... taken away from me, my brother dead. So now, I live; I plan; I do-- all in the service of my own interests. In that, I believe, I am not unique in the universe. *The last time I left this ship... MY ship... I did so under a veil of secrecy. You forced that situation. You took away my command. You stole my life from me. Well, this time, Scorpius, I am not leaving quietly. *Talyn, starburst. Trivia *The series' creator, Rockne O'Bannon, named the character after his friend, contemporary mystery novelist Robert Crais. *At one point there were discussions that instead of Crais dying at the end of season 3, he would be transported away at the last moment and gone back to his life as a farmer. (Source: Season 1, Collection 2 Starburst Edition DVD) Category:CharactersCategory:Season 1 CharactersCategory:Season 2 CharactersCategory:Season 3 CharactersCategory:SebaceansCategory:Peacekeepers Appearances *(1.01 "Premiere") *(1.08 "That Old Black Magic") *(1.11 "Till The Blood Runs Clear") *(1.19 "Nerve") *(1.20 "The Hidden Memory") *(1.21 "Bone To Be Wild") *(1.22 "Family Ties") *(2.01 "Mind The Baby") *(2.05 "The Way We Weren't") *(2.09 "Out Of Their Minds") *(2.15 "Won't Get Fooled Again") *(2.17 "The Ugly Truth") *(2.18 "A Clockwork Nebari") *(2.21 "Liars, Guns and Money - Plan B") *(2.22 "Die Me, Dichotomy") *(3.01 "Season Of Death") *(3.06 "Eat Me") *(3.07 "Thanks for Sharing") *(3.08 "Green-Eyed Monster") *(3.10 "Relativity") *(3.12 "Meltdown") *(3.14 "Infinite Possibilities - Daedalus Demands") *(3.15 "Infinite Possibilities - Icarus Abides") *(3.17 "The Choice") *(3.18 "Fractures") *(3.19 "I-Yensch, You-Yensch") *(3.20 "Into the Lion's Den - Lambs to the Slaughter") *(3.21 "Into the Lion's Den - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing") *(4.07 "John Quixote") *(4.11 "Unrealized Reality")